WWF as a Business Essay -- WWF Wrestling Entertainment Essays

WWF as a Business Since 1890, professional wrestling has garnered the attention of the public. However, no one has capitalized on this sport’s entertainment value more than the World Wrestling Federation and Vince McMahon Jr. Vince McMahon Jr. acquired the WWF from his father Vice McMahon Sr. in 1982. Vince McMahon Jr.’s succession brought along freshness, flare, success, and much controversy to the world of professional wrestling. Before McMahon’s takeover of his father’s company, professional wrestling had various territories across the country in which each was headed by a â€Å"little lord.† These people in charge followed a gentleman’s agreement in which no takeovers of different territories were allowed. McMahon, however, broke this mold and took over all the markets by signing wrestlers to lucrative contracts, creating a â€Å"rock show† type of venue, and occupying prime television slots. The WWF began to enjoy much success as it took advantage of the cable network USA Network and delved into pay-per-view events. This period of time for the WWF was somewhat monopolistic because of a lack of competition in the industry. After a failing attempt to buy some of the WWF’s stock, Ted Turner, owner of the TBS Network, sought to get into the wrestling business for himself. Ted Turner created the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and brought direct competition to the WWF. The WCW challenged the WWF’s success in every way, including its Monday night showcase and its use of headlining characters. Competition amongst the two wrestling corporations was brought to a head with a fight over WWF superstar, Bret â€Å"The Hitman† Hart. Pressing Issues The WWF is in a constant battle against time and the audience’s ever-changing wants and desires causing consistent reinvention. During early years of wrestling it was clear wrestling had no identity. Wrestlers would travel from region to region fighting in promoted venues, the sport slowly began to gain popularity but quickly lost steam during the Radio and TV age where popularity shifted to sports like boxing, baseball, and football. During this time Vince McMahon Sr. would begin the first of many reinventions of the sport. Changes included starting a full scale wrestling federation (WWF) and the inception of a championship which wrestlers would compete for. Along with having to always change the image ... ...Recommended Response In order to maintain a competitive advantage, McMahon must come up with new, innovative ideas to make his wrestlers famous. McMahon has a reputation of consistently changing characters from good to evil and vice versa. By doing so, McMahon is confusing his WWF audience, whom are flocking to the WCW and their favorite characters. The WCW’s tactic of utilizing old WWF characters in their wrestling matches is overshadowing the tactics of McMahon. Creating new characters and maintaining their images will generate a new audience to the WWF. To effectively compete with the WCW, McMahon and the WWF should consider investing in a broadcasting network of their own. By doing this, the WWF will be able to expand their media coverage and compete with Turner, who already owns his own network. Another way to compete with the WCW is to refrain from using controversial issues in the wrestling matches. Conveying controversial views limits the audience that is usually generated by the WWF. As a last alternative, the WWF should consider merging with the WCW. Through merging, McMahon will be able to keep his pride and not risk completely loosing the family business.